Sources: MLB proposes international draft as part of CBA talks - ESPN

Major League Baseball has once again proposed an international draft as part of its negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement, sources told ESPN on Thursday, painting it as a push to provide structure for an increasingly unruly and corrupt system.

MLB's international draft would be restricted to players who are at least 18 years old, as opposed to 16 under the current system. It would consist of 12 hard-slot rounds, with an initial signing bonus pool totaling $200 million for 360 amateur players residing outside the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, according to sources.

The pitch was part of a wider MLB proposal pertaining to amateur players, one that is expected to include drastic cuts for those coming through the traditional, U.S.-based draft. It comes three weeks after owners formally proposed a salary cap, a major point of contention for the MLB Players' Association that is widely expected to trigger another prolonged lockout.

Four years ago, MLB and the MLBPA didn't engage in talks around an international draft until the late stages of what was ultimately a 99-day lockout. A new CBA was ratified on March 10, 2022, but the two sides gave themselves until July 25 of that year to agree on what amounted to a swap — an international draft in exchange for the abolishment of the qualifying offer system that has long hamstrung major league free agents. But the deadline came and went without an agreement, largely over the size of the signing-bonus pool.

MLB's proposal then called for 20 rounds, encompassing 600 amateur players, for $191 million, $69 million short of the MLBPA's last counter. MLB's initial pitch in this round of bargaining would bring the number of drafted players down significantly but